The increasing number of security threats directed against the general population has resulted in the public demanding a higher level of security at events and public gatherings. Attendees and participants at events and public gatherings may be threatened by malicious actors through a variety of vectors. For large gatherings at a sports venue, threats such as chemical and biological toxins may be of concern. For events in an urban area, such as a parade or outdoor festival, the threats may also include malicious actors with firearms or hijacked vehicles. To protect the public, organizers and government officials have sought to increase the security at such events and public gatherings. This desire for higher security is shared by the public, but must be balanced with the desire by those participating in the event or public gathering that their safety not require intrusive security measures that interfere with the event or gathering itself. Thus, there has been an increasing desire to create unobtrusive security solutions that can monitor the conditions in a particular area. There is also a desire for such a system to be easily reconfigurable so that a variety of threats may be monitored using the same general structure, or base unit. It is also desirable to create such a system using a plurality of nodes so that a larger area can be effectively monitored.